DAY 1: December 4, 2023

Keynote: Resilience & The Stress Response: Addressing Emotional Stuckness Including Trauma

PRESENTED BY Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D.

MORNING KEYNOTES | 8:30am - 9:30am

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

New understandings reveal that there is much wisdom to the stress response. Rather than focusing on dysfunction, we should begin by appreciating how our brains are brilliantly programmed to not only summon the strength required to deal with distressing situations, but to also serve as an emotional first-aid response. The problem is not with the stress response per se, but when the stress response is not followed in a timely fashion by its partner, the resilience response. We will be much more effective in our interaction with distressed children, youth and students if we first come alongside how their brains are trying to take care of them, and from this stance, proceed to help the stress response become unstuck.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Updating an understanding of the stress response through the lenses of attachment and emotion

• The ability to differentiate between the two kinds of strength that is often associated with resilience

• An appreciation of what has to bounce back for emotional health and well-being

• An understanding of the wisdom of the stress response and how to come alongside it

Keynote: Fostering Social Emotional Learning Skills in Children & Adolescents

PRESENTED BY Steven G. Feifer, D.Ed., ABSNP

MORNING KEYNOTE | 9:30am - 10:30am

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

According to a 2023 survey conducted by Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC), mental health has worsened in Canada in the aftermath of the global pandemic.  For instance, the survey revealed that 14 percent of Canadians continue to struggle with stress and burnout, 10 percent disclosed high levels of anxiety, and 8 percent endorsed moderate symptoms of depression.  This workshop will explore the impact of mental health conditions on academic performance in children and adolescents, and discuss how schools can foster social emotional learning to improve both academic and social-skill functioning.  Poverty, childhood abuse, parental neglect, trauma, and pandemics can impact key brain mechanisms underlying learning and social-emotional behavior in students. Schools can enhance emotional wellness in children through early prevention efforts, appropriate assessment strategies, teaching collaborative problem solving, and developing a nurturing school climate to foster emotional growth for all children.  Specific assessment strategies, screening tools, and targeted classroom interventions will be shared.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• Discuss the prevalence of children with emotional disabilities in Canada, and the relationship between emotional wellness and successful academic performance.

• Explore key brain regions impacted when students experience stress, anxiety, and depression, and the subsequent effect on academic and social skills’ development.

• Discuss assessment options for students with emotional dysregulation, and introduce the FACT scale to assess the impact of stress and trauma on academic and social-emotional functioning.

• Explore effective classroom accommodations, social-emotional learning options, and targeted classroom strategies and interventions for children and adolescents with emotional self-regulation issues in school.

Keynote: Living the Medicine Wheel Teachings

PRESENTED BY Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, Ph.D.

MORNING KEYNOTE | 10:45am - 11:45am

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This session is available for live stream.

The medicine wheel teaches us there are four quadrants that require our dedicated attention – the “Physical quadrant” which encompasses everything we are from conception to elderhood. The “Mental or learning quadrant” where we gather knowledge, courage, and confidence about our world and express the gifts we can give our children. The “Emotional quadrant” where we embrace the concept of “all my relations” as a foundation for our lives and build capacity to love unconditionally. The “Spiritual quadrant” where we are reminded of the need “to be good ancestors” and guide next generations with a good heart as we walk the 7 values (grandfather/grandmother teachings) into the future.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• We have a personal responsibility to understand the relationship between all four quadrants

• We become imbalanced if we only focus on one or two over the others – each one requires discipline and dedication

• Systemic disorders are directly related to how we live our lives – moving, learning, loving, and being socially and emotionally connected

• Everything is connected and this includes the foods we eat, the people we love, how we treat our bodies, and what we chose to learn.